A topic that interests/concerns us all:
Friday the 8th of November 2019, a student set himself on fire in front of the Crous building in Lyon to symbolize the financial difficulties which he was facing. Crous stands for ‘Centre Régional des Œuvres Universitaires et Scolaires’ (Regional Center of Higher Education) and is a public establishment created by the Minister of Higher Education for research and innovation of France. Following this shocking suicide attempt, a protest was organized in which many universities participated in. The 14th of November, the official student union representatives were welcomed by the government for a meeting in which they asked for an increase in student loans as well as an increase of student precariousness for the nation. In the annual student’s cost of living report, the UNEF (the national student’s union) put forth an increase of 2.83% compared to 2018, in addition to the previous increase of 1.31% from 2017. The cost of living for students has had a slow increase for about 10 years now, drowning more and more underprivileged students. This news reminds us that although we are all in a private business school, we are still students just like many others in Bordeaux and our hometowns and unfortunately financial precarity concerns more people than we think of, even our closest friends. We owe it to ourselves to have solidarity amongst us in order to not exclude people who want to take part in the fun student life but cannot because of a strict budget. Let’s give a deeper meaning to the value of ‘Fraternity’, which belongs to France’s motto ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’, which seems to disappear nowadays. |
On a lighter note, let’s dive into what to do this week with Kedge:
Here, just like in the last newsletter, is the planning of all the upcoming events prepared by the different associations of Kedge. Once again, I can’t promote any event in the exception of Melting Potes’ one’s (which will not fail you ☺). If an event interests you, don’t forget to tune into their Facebook page to get all the information needed!
What to do outside of Kedge?
Here you can find a small list of various things to do this week in Bordeaux:
1) Gastronomy If like most people in France you enjoy food, and more particularly cheese, the brewery BBF, located in the city center, has set up many giant ‘raclettes’ (a traditional French dish which is enjoyed in the colder months of the year) during the 28 to 30th of November.
2) Culture After having tasted raclette and hopefully loved it, you might be interested in a museum outing at the Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. Until the 9th of December, you will be able to see Roger Bissière’s paintings, an artist at the top of the 1950s class of the non-figurative style.
3) Outings/EventsFinally, if you are into thrift shopping and finding your treasures in other people’s stuff, take an hour or two at l’Esplanade des Quinconces in Bordeaux’s city center. You will be bound to find some things fit for your budget worth bringing home.
French Recipe
Finally, a key recipe that is enjoyed during the winter in France: Cabbage Soup! There was even a movie made called ‘La Soupe Aux Choux’ with iconic French comedians like Louis de Funès, Jean Carmet and Jacques Villeret to be watched with your bowl of soup.
For this you will need:
1 medium sized green cabbage (the star of the dish) |
4 carrots |
5 potatoes |
3 smoked sausages |
2 turnips |
A couple leaves of laurier |
Salt and Pepper |
Thyme |
Step 1:
Boil some water in a pot. Put your cabbage in for 3 to 4 minutes to whiten it. After this, take it out to let it cool.
Step 2:
Wash, peel and chop all your vegetables.
Step 3:
Once your cabbage has cooled a bit, chop it up to pieces.
Step 4:
Fill a big soup pot halfway with water and add to it all your vegetables, the sausages, the laurier, the thyme and salt and pepper.
Step 5:
Let it simmer for an hour and a half on low to medium heat. After this you can choose to blend it or not. And enjoy, it’s that easy!